Container base construction



Elite Sites Patent [72} Inventor Richard (I. Schurch Livonia, Michigan [21] Appl. Nov 772,293 122] Filed Oct. 31,1968 [45] Patented Oct. 13, 1970 [73] Assignee Bathey Manufacturing Company a corporation of Michigan [54] CONTAINER BASE CONSTRUCTION 3.176,632 4/1965 Yingling 3.227.108 1/1966 Greaves t.

ABSTRACT: A four-sided industrial container or pallet having a load supporting platform. frame members defining the sides thereof with depending corner posts for stacking one container upon another. A pair of skid members are secured to the container on opposite sides thereof and have bottom surfaces disposed below the corner posts. The bottom surface of each skid member includes a portion extending below and parallel to one side of the container and end portions extending diagonally across the corners at the ends of this side of the container. These skid members reinforce the container structure, provide greater supporting area. and enable the container to be placed on a roller bed with the rollers extending parallel to either of the opposite pairs of container sides.

Patented Oct. 13, 1970 FlG.l

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FIG.3

-|NVENTOR RIC/ APO CI SCI/049C ATTORNEYS CONTAlNE R BASE CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to material handling containers, the term container" as used herein including types with enclosed sides, the rack or open framework type, and pallets.

2. Descriptioh of the Prior Art Containers of the types under discussion have been made with depending skids for engaging the support on which the container is placed. These skids have either been in the form of a pair of parallel bars mounted below a pair of opposite sides of the container, or in the form of a lattice work of parallel bars extending perpendicular to each other as illustrated in US. Pat. No.'2,680,587. The single pair of a parallel skids does not provide proper supporting area for movement of the container in a direction perpendicular to the length of the skids, either on a supporting surface or on a roller bed; and, the lattice work arrangement, aside from being relatively costly, is subject to damage from the container being placed upon an uneven support.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The main object of the present invention is to provide a container construction incorporating a skid-supported base which improves the handling characteristics and the durability of the container at minimum cost.

This container construction includes structure forming a four-sided load supporting platform with frame members defining the sides thereof, a pair of depending skid members for engaging a support on which the container is placed, and means mounting the skid members on a pair of opposite'sides of the container. Each of the pair of skid members has a planar bottom surface including a central portion and a pair of end portions extending angularly in diverging relation to the central portion, the central portion extending substantially parallel to one of the pair of containersides and the end portions extending diagonally across the adjacent comers of the container, each end portion including an upwardly projecting extension secured to one of the remaining pair of frame side members. The end portions of the skid members provide planar bottom surfaces long enough to enable the container to be moved in a direction perpendicular to the central portion of the skid members, either on a roller conveyor or on a supporting surface, and these end portions are constructed and secured to the container frame structure so as to reinforce the comers thereof as well as stabilize and reinforce the central portions of the skid members.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the description to follow of the presently preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The drawing comprises the following views:

FIG. 1. is a plan view showing the bottom of a container constructed in accordance with the invention, taken as indicated by the line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the container; and

H0. 3 is a fragmentary end elevation thereof taken as indicated by the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT stacked. As shown in H6. 2, the corner sts are interconnected by pairs of crossmembers 24 and 2 placed below the upper ends 22 thereof.

The container illustrated is of the type having sides enclosed by wire mesh panels 28 and 30. 1

The structure 1 of the platform 10 includes a pair of skid members 32 suitably mounted below the opposite pair of frame members 12 by means to be later described. Each skid member 32 is made of a length of bar stock formed with a central portion 34 extending parallel to a frame member 12 and with a pair of end portions 36 extending in angularly diverging relation to the central portion 34 diagonally across the pair of comers of the container at the ends of the frame member 12, the portions 34 and 36 of each skid member 32 providing a continuous planar bottom surface for engagement with a support on which the container is placed, such as the rollers 38 of a roller bed indicated in broken line. The bottom surfaces of the skid members are below the end caps 20 of the corner posts.

Means for mounting each of the skid members 32 includes a pair of struts 40 securing the central portion 34 of the skid member to one of the frame side members 12; an upturned extension 42 formed integrally with each end portion 36 securing the skid member to each of the adjacent pair of frame side members 14; and, a pair of brackets 44, Z-shaped in plan (FIG. 1), securing the skid member to the frame member 12 and to the depending portions 18 of a pair of corner posts 16. As a result of this'oonstruction and mounting of the skid members, the frame structure of the base portion 10 of the container is reinforced for vertical loading, and for distortion at the corners, and the skid members 32 are securely anchored against displacement relative to the load supporting platform 10.

Handling of the container by a forklift truck is possible from any of the sides 12 and 14, for as shown in FIG. 3, the end portions 36 of the pair of skid members and their extensions 42, are spaced apart a distance sufiicient to permit engagement of the base structure by a fork truck approaching perpendicular to'a frame side member 14.

The skid members 32 enable the container to be moved in any direction either on a plane supporting surface or on a roller bed, for, as best shown in FIG. 3, the end portion 36 of each skid member has a length sufficient to span an adjacent pair of rollers 38.

l claim:

1. In a container including structure forming a four-sided load supporting platform having frame members defining the sides thereof, the improvement comprising:

a pair of skid members each having a bottom surface for engagement with a support onwhich the container is placed, said bottom surface including a central portion and a pair of end portions extending angularly in diverging relation to the central portion;

means mounting the skid members below a pair of opposite frame side members of the container with the central portions of the skid members substantially parallel to said pair of frame side members; and

each end portion of the skid members extending diagonally under a comer of the container platform and including an upwardly projecting extension secured to one of the remaining pair of frame side members.

2. A container as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bottomsurface of each end portion of each skid member has a length sufficient to span an'adjacent pair of rollers of a roller bed the axes of which extend parallel to center portions of the skid members.

3. A container as set forth in claim I having depending corner posts secured to the frame side members, and wherein the means mounting the skid members includes brackets, each bracket being secured to a frame side member, to a corner post and to a skid member adjacent one end portion thereof. 

